BANGKOK, Sept 15 (TNA) - The Criminal Court has sentenced three former election commissioners to two years in prison and revoked their right to vote for ten years for malfeasance and dereliction of duty.

It is the second conviction against the trio--former Election Commission (EC) chairman Vasana Puemlarp, Prinya Nakchadtree and Virachai Naweboonnien--in less than two months after the former commissioners were sentenced in July to four years in prison for their mishandling of the April 2 poll which was
nullified by the Constitution Court a month later.

The court verdict on Friday stemmed from a lawsuit filed by opposition Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thueksuban who accused the three of negligence, alleging they were aware that the ruling Thai Rak Thai party was paying small parties to field their candidates in some constituencies but failing to take action.

New election commissioners were elected last week to replace the five previous commissioners, three of whom resigned after being handed jail terms for mishandling the April 2 general election. Another commissioner-- Gen. Charuphat Ruangsuwan--resigned before the trial, and another had died earlier.

The Democrat Party decided to drop charges against General Charuphat, deeming that his resignation meant that he had taken responsibility for his wrongdoing.

Following the court's verdict, Mr. Suthep said that he was proud that the judiciary was the public's last resort for seeking justice. The court agreed to grant bail for the former three commissioners on grounds that the plaintiff had no objection.